Chapter 2, "T-R-O-U-B-L-E"
By: RogueBHS
A/N: Sorry about the delays in getting a new chapter up here, but a lot has been going on. First I was trying to graduate from HS, and succeeded. Then there was the usual no muse, probably from a lack of reading other fan fics there for a while. To top it all off, then my mom got sick and had to be put in the hospital for nearly 2 weeks, and afterwards I was basically doing most of the stuff around the house; cooking, cleaning, etc. Not fun. But either way I hope this chapter is good enough to make up for the delays. Oh, and btw, I do get a little eh...basic at a few points here, and go into a description of the powers, as well as a certain new mutant's view on the X-men Evo team (the main, not the "kids" as I've dubbed them).
Just put up with it though...I plan on making this a LONG chapter. ;)
Well, I play an old guitar from a nine till a half past one
I'm just tryin' to make a livin' watchin' everybody else havin' fun
Well, I don't miss much if it happens on a dance hall floor
Mercy, look what just walked through that door
Well, hello T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Tell me what in the world
You doin' A-L-O-N-E
Yeah, say hey, good L double O-K-I-N-G
Well, I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E...
Yeah
I was a little, bitty baby when my papa hit the skids
Mama had a time tryin' to raise nine kids
She told me not to stare cause it was impolite
She did the best she could to try to raise me right
Cause mama never told me 'bout nothin' like Y-O-U
Bet your mama musta been another good lookin' honey, too
Yeah
Hey, good L double O-K-I-N-G
Well, I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E...
Yeah
Yeah
Well, you're a sweet talkin', sexy walkin', honky tonkin' baby
The men are gonna love ya and the woman gonna hate ya
Remindin' them of everythin' they're never gonna be
May be the beginning of a world war three
Cause the world ain't ready for nothing like Y-O-U
I bet your mama musta been another good lookin' mama, too
Hey, say hey, good L double O-K-I-N-G
Well, I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E...
I said hey
I said hey
I said hey
I said hey
I said hey (Hey)
Oh, I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E...
Yeah
Whoo
"T-R-O-U-B-L-E" by Travis Tritt
A pair of light blue eyes watched the many moniters in front of them, keen interest in what they were viewing shown by the lips below that were curved in a slight but satisfied smile. With the click of a few keys, the pool camera's view was switched to the main screen. Now the pair of eyes watched as two teens played in the huge pool; splashing, dunking and all that. Their huge smiles seemed to reassure and amuse the person watchng, because a masculine chuckle resounded in the room.
Movement on the screen showing the front door was reason enough for that to be pulled onto the larger main moniter. The moniter showed a limo in the background and two people walking to the front door. The soft sound of a motor whirring followed the man's progress down a metal hall, and to a door that slid open when he pressed a button with an up arrow.
The elevator carried him up a few floors, and the exited on to smooth, deep red carpet. On his way to the front door, he passed the same two teens that had been playing in the pool. His smile to them was responded to with two other smiles, and two totally different voices saying "Hello, Professor," to which he only nodded. He continued past them, and then slowed down as he passed another teen, a pretty red-headed female who seemed rather upset over something.
Despite the fact tthat she had been asked what was wrong, she kept walking, telling the professor to "ask Scott." Frowning slightly, Professor Charles Xavier told her in no uncertain terms that she was to return to the livin room and wait for him. The newest of his students had just arrived, and all of his current students were to give her a proper welcome to the Institute. Now it was Jean Grey's turn to frown, and boy did she ever.
"But Professor...I already met her."
Xaiver raised an eyebrow, still frowning. Jean normally listened to Xavier's orders without any fuss, whether she agreed with him or not. So to say the least this open disagreement from her was a shock, and anything but welcome. But thankfully, he didn't have to say much. From the look on Jean's face, from the second that Xavier had raised his eyebrow, she had been seriously rethinking what she had just said to her mentor.
"I uh...I'm sorry Professor. Scott just was a bit rude over the fact that I was surprised when the new girl showed up today, and that ticked me off." Jean's expression was sheepish and guilty enough to have Xaiver sighing.
"Jean, we've been over this before. However, I have other things to see to right now, so we will speak about this later. Go back to the living room and try and round up the others would you? Don't let anyone leave till I get there. Understood?"
Jean nodded grimmly. "Yes, Professor."
Xavier watched her progress silently for a few moments, then moved quickly to the enterence hall where his newest student, Elizabeth Braddock, stood talking to Scott Summers. Scott seemed hypnotized by the purple-haired teen girl, much to Xavier's surprise and mild amusement. Rolling his motorized wheel chair forward, Professor Xavier cleared his throat to get the teen's attention.
Both teens jumped. Obviously Elizabeth hadn't been lying about needing to work on her telepathy if she hadn't sensed him coming. Smiling again, Xavier rolled a bit closer to the two, and looked directly at Scott. "Thank you for keeping Miss Braddock occupied for the few moments it took me to get here, Scott." The sentence was definitely a form of dismissal, and Scott picked up on that quickly.
Reluctant though he was to leave, Scott knew better than to cause a scene, much less to argue with Xaiver. Nodding to the professor, he smiled a bit. "You're welcome, Professor." Turning back to Elizabeth, his smile widened. "I'll see you later I guess then. It was nice meeting you."
Elizabeth nodded in agreement, then let her own lips curve into a smile. "It was nice meeting you too Scott."
Since her smile seemed to make Scott want to stay right where he was, Xavier cleared his throat, earning him Scott's attention again. "Make sure all the others are in the living room, won't you?"
Scott nodded slowly, then moved away towards the living room, leaving Xavier to speak with Elizabeth. The two turned their full attention to each other, and Xavier extended a hand, then shook Elizabeth's before both let their hands drop back to their sides. "Welcome to the Xavier Institute, Miss Braddock."
Elizabeth smiled a bit wider. "Thank you, Professor Xavier."
"As I've already explained most of what your being here entails, I thought that I would introduce you to the others who live here..."
"That sounds fine, sir."
With the slightest of nods, Xavier turned his chair around, towards where Scott had headed only a few seconds before. "If you'll follow me then."
As they made their way down the short trek to the living room, the sound of many voices caught Elizabeth's attention. When she entered the living room, she was glad it wasn't her telepathy that had been picking up all those voices. There were many teens and "pre-teens" in the room, especially when compared to the fact that there were only four adults. The thing that didn't really surprise her though was that they seemed as different as their powers likely were.
Xavier rolled to a spot near a very pretty African-American woman with pure white hair, then motioned for Elizabeth to sit. So she did. When she was in the process of sitting, she realized that the room had gone extremely quiet. When Xavier spoke again, it didn't take much for Elizabeth to understand that he was one of the rare people who could keep a room quiet and in control without ever raising their voice. Something about Professor Xavier just radiated a power that commanded the respect of those around him. He reminded Elizabeth of her brother in that way.
"Well then, since we're all gathered here," a hint of pride crept into his voice when he said that, as if them being on time or together was a rarity. "Each of you," his light blue eyes glanced over the other teens and the 3 adults, "can give Elizabeth your names and powers in turn, but lets have Elizabeth start it." He turned those eyes to her again, obviously waiting for her to start.
Smiling a bit, she sat up straighter and looked around the room, surprised to see everyone's eyes on her. "Well...For starters you can call me Betsy if you want, instead of Elizabeth." There was just a hint of a British accent in her voice, and to Betsy's surprise, it made a girl sitting on the window seat narrow her eyes slightly. Deciding not to put too much thought into it right now, Betsy continued. "I'm a telepath, and a telekenetic too. I have to admit I'm a bit better at the telekenesis though." She paused for a moment, then remembered something. "Oh yeah...you can call me Psylocke too..." She blushed just a bit, expecting a laugh, but no one did. Feeling better about that, she just glanced at Xavier, as if to tell him she was done.
He got the message and turned to the red-headed girl that Elizabeth had met in the hallway briefly. The red-head smiled for the first time since the two girls had met, and then spoke. "I'm Jean. My powers are the same as yours I imagine, but I'm pretty good at the telepathy too. Telekenesis is my strong point though."
Scott nudged Jean with a smile. "She's good at both...she's just modest about it."
Jean blushed vividly, nodding briefly when a blue furry...thing with a German accent asked her if she was done. He turned his yellow eyes on Betsy, grinning, showing off a pair of fangs. "My name is Kurt, or Nightcrawler, and I'm a teleporter. I'm also very good at acrobatics."
A petite brunette piped up now, a bright smile curving her lips. Judging by her clothing, Betsy felt she couldn't be too far off in thinking the girl a preppy sort. "Hi! Like, my name's Kitty, or Shadowcat. I can walk through just about anything...walls, people; and I can like short out electrical systems if I phase through them."
Nodding, Elizabeth's eyes turned to the white haired woman that was sitting near Xavier. The woman's eyes were a startlingly bright blue, and held a sort of wisdom and calm that made them all the more amazing to look into. Lips curved into a kind smile, then the woman started to speak. "The students here tend to call me Ororo, but you may also call me Storm." Noticing the slightly puzzled look Betsy got when Ororo told her to call her Storm as well, Ororo smiled a bit brighter. "I control the natural forces in weather, as well as being able to sense the patterns of the weather. But my moods tend to influence the weather if I'm not careful...which is why most of the students here prefer to stay on my good side." At that last bit, Ororo gave Betsy a hint of a wink, then moved back up against the back of her seat, and looked across at the other blue furball in the room.
This furball however was much larger than the other. If anything he looked a bit like a big blue ape of a man, because his arms were longer than those of a man his height. When he smiled at her, like the other blue guy, he had a pair of fangs that might have been frightening if not for the fact that his eyes were too calm and too kind looking for him to be a true beast. When he spoke, his voice sounded like that of a person who's been well educated. "Well, I suppose its come to my turn then. You can call me Mr. McCoy, Hank, or Beast. I'll answer to any of those." He grinned a bit. "After all, what's in a name? As for my X-gene, its given me a good deal of superhuman agility, strength, and a bit of invunerability to physical attacks. That's not to say I can't be knocked out of course, but it enough to take the strain out of lifting all that weight. Our poor muscles can only take so much after all."
Elizabeth nodded slowly, surprised, then nearly jumped out of her seat as a quiet, but gruff voice spoke up. "Call me Logan or Wolverine, Bets. I ain't picky." Betsy was surprised at the nickname too, and finally located the one speaking standing in a corner of the room, mostly hidden by shadow. He wasn't tall, but he wasn't exactly short either. His build was that of a weight-lifter, and he didn't seem to dress to impress. If anything, he looked wild, especially with that untamed black hair. Blue eyes had lines spreading from the outside corner, and looked old, but wise. One look was all it took for Elizabeth to realize that he wasn't one to mess with.
"I've got advanced healin', claws and animal senses fer powers." He glanced at the older teens with something akin to a smirk. "But these other kids still think they can sneak out at night without me realizin' it." He let out a snort at the end of that, earning him a sheepish look from one or two of the teens. Seemingly satisfied, he looked to the boy sitting on the window seat next to a girl, and raised an eyebrow. "Your turn, Cajun."
The Cajun stretched out on the seat, basking in the late evening sun that was filtering through the window before he even turned his eyes to look at Elizabeth. Those eyes, framed by chesnut hair that fell to the boy's chin, were seemingly black at first. But then twin points of fiery red were noticable in the shadows caused by his hair. *Demon eyes...* was Elizabeth's first thought, but something about the rest of his face made her throw that idea away. He seemed older than the rest, but younger too. Confused by that, Betsy settled for just listening to him when he started to speak.
"Je m'appelle Remy, ma chere. Remy LeBeau. But you c'n call me Gambit." He grinned at her; it was a cocky, but lazy grin that was obviously made to make women or girls melt. "I c'n make t'ings go *boom*, or jus' warm 'em up a lil. Depends on the situation o' course. De bigger de t'ing, de longer it take for my powers t' work." The girl sitting next to him nudged him a little, and after flashing his grin at her, he turned back to Elizabeth. "I also c'n sense feelin's...sorta. I c'n tell if someone be angry, sad, or happy; de stronger de emotion, the easier it is fo' me t' pick up on it. Sorta attached t' dat is de fact dat I c'n sense where t'ings are in relation t' me."
Nodding again, Betsy now turned her attention to the girl sitting next to the Cajun boy. Something about her green/gray eyes made Betsy wonder if she'd be able to get this girl to trust her at all. Not wanting to think like that, not until it was proven anyway, Betsy settled for taking in the rest of the girl's appearance. Compared to Jean and Kitty, this girl was better curved, and taller too, despite the fact that she was slouching a bit right now. Her hair hung somewhere between shoulder and chin length, but what made it unusual was the fact that while a good deal of it was auburn brown, about two inches worth of hair in the front, namely her bangs, were as white as Ororo's hair.
"Mah name's Rogue. An' yes, that's mah real name." The girl added when Betsy looked surprised. "Lahke you, Jean an' th' professah, Ah c'n read a person's thoughts...but Ah do it different than jus' pokin' 'round in someone's head. When Ah touch a person Ah absorb 'em; thoughts, memories, feelin's, their entire bein' really, right down to their powahs if they're a mutant. Only thin' I don't absorb is the phyiscal attributes...normally."
Rogue stopped there, having noticed when the professor cleared his throat. Turning her head to face him, Elizabeth seemed surprised at how sober his facial expression was. "I must inform you, Elizabeth, that a few months ago, some of these students, Rogue included, were kidnapped as it were by a scientist. He and his team of other scientists and medical experts expierimented on them. The end result has left Rogue with four other powers, as they forced her to absorb one other mutant; a young girl."
Shocked, Elizabeth flashed a brief look of sympathy in Rogue's direction, a look that only had the other girl frowning and looking away. Turning her attention back to the professor, Elizabeth waited for him to continue.
"Because of that absorbption, Rogue now has the powers of flight unaided, super strength, a much higher degree of invunerability than Hank, as well as some sort of sense that alerts her to immeadiate danger to her person."
Amazed, she looked over at Rogue again, but said nothing, noticing the way the girl was curled up to Remy, obviously not enjoying the subject of how she had come by her other powers. Turning back to the professor, Elizabeth nodded again, more grimmly this time. She noticed him look to Rogue and Remy, sigh, then clear his throat. "Rogue, Gambit, you can leave if you wish."
That was all the invite the two Southerners needed, for they left, quietly and quickly. Xavier watched them leave, then, with a hint of a smile, he turned his attention to Betsy again. "Well, Psylocke, welcome to the X-men."